1271 Tasting Notes
This is a good, inexpensive sheng for the new pu drinker or daily drinker. In the youngness I’m drinking it at now, it is pretty green tasting. It’s got a nice slick creamy body, with well balanced notes of fruity sweet, mineral, and light floral. I got 10 decent infusions. There is a light dryness, but I think you can steep this a bit lower temperature to avoid it.
Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/year-monkey-2016-spring-mengku-bitter-leaf-teas/
Preparation
I gongfu steeped this and got this Dian Hong to produce some excellent sweet apricot, malt, molasses, and mineral flavors. The flavor is full force (though I did ratio on the high side), and got a nice silky texture. A little bit of astringency at the final 9th steep, but no bitterness.
Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/04-dian-hong-congfu-joseph-wesley-black-tea-tea-review/
Preparation
I rolled in thinking I was going to be drinking some green oolong with lots of floral. I missed the “red” in the title of this tea. This oolong is not green!
This tea has some charcoal roast to it, so this is a floral gui fei with peachy, roasty, woodsy, buttery, and honey notes. This tea is certainly meaty to start. The final steeps are excellent with tasting like straight honey.
Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/gui-fei-red-oolong-totem-tea-tea-review/
Preparation
Artist Lin oolong is a unique High Mountain oolong! This one has a really oily thick texture with notes of tulips, honey, pine nuts, and butter. It is bright and crisp, with a long aftertaste. I quite enjoyed this oolong, and if you are a texture floral freak you’ll love it.
Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/artist-lin-oolong-stone-leaf-teahouse-tea-review/
Preparation
This is the most mint cooling Ruby 18 I’ve had so far. The cooling sensation starts early on, going with a mellow, fruity, woodsy and sweet flavor. This tea has an excellent thick body too.
A ruby 18 for someone who wants all the texture and feels!
Full Review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/pacific-northwest-taiwanese-black-tea-comparison/
Preparation
All of them sound excellent, it would honestly depend on how particular I was for a black tea. I usually prefer sweet and thick chocolate notes in my black tea, but I need plenty of sweetness with the dryness. But I do love fruitiness and being able to taste a balanced variety of the notes that a tea can offer. Decisions. I still need to review their Earl Grey…
I tried the David’s but not all of the others yet. It was a bit strong. I thought I wrote a note, but I could be mistaken.
At first I thought this wasn’t a Ruby 18. It is quite brisk, tannic, sharp, chocolately and woodsy vs somethig more cooling and fruity.
However in the later steepings that Ruby 18 cooling sensation shows up, giving you almost a bittersweet chocolate mint thang going. This black would be liked by many – something more classic black and rich, but also Ruby 18 minty complex.
Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/pacific-northwest-taiwanese-black-tea-comparison/
Preparation
I love aged white tea and tasting Old Whitey I got some light date and medicinal notes in the 8 and 9th steeps – this guy has potential! Other notes of amber, linen, rock sugar with a creamy texture.
Someone put Old Whitey in a time warp 5 years! AGE FASTER!
Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/september-2016-white2tea-club-feat-2016-old-whitey-hoplite-oolong/
Preparation
This lightly fermented shou is a prime example of needing to be aired out, age, and storage. Go look at all the other reviews here and it’s all over the place. I drank this, looked at the reviews and it sounds like a different tea compared to reviews a year ago.
My Green Miracle goat got pretty well aired out, sat for months in the open, then I threw it in my shou pumidor. I got no dry, funk, tart, nor mutated fermented stank that people mention here. Notes I found were primarily mineral wet stones, with some rounds of dirt earth, caramel, clean, and fresh taste. Bit of a green essence to it with some crisp cold breaths.
Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/2015-green-miracle-shou-puer-yunnan-sourcing/
Preparation
9/27/16
“Once this puer hit my radar, I’ve noticed the price has gone up twice.”
“It is a good all around shou, with a friendly price of $24 250 grams (at this time).”
Have you seen the cost lately??
https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2015-yunnan-sourcing-green-miracle-wild-arbor-ripe-pu-erh-tea?variant=35016882438
This puer has notes of honeysuckle, unripe apricots, wheat barley, and later steeps a little tart. Steep this tea for awhile and it does get bitter, but it gives you plenty energy to not care. It also packs quite a strong taste. The texture is quite nice with a thick body, later on developing an interesting cooling effect in the mouth, and then getting a bubbly sensation.
Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/2016-jingmai-love-crimson-lotus-tea-tea-review/
Preparation
This is a pretty vegetal yiwu. I got notes of vegetal, fruits, mellow vibes and a floral aftertaste with a texture of melted butter. It does get crushingly bitter on the final steeps, but the first 6 were very good. I got 10 infusions.
Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/2016-secret-garden-sheng-puer-bitterleaf-teas/
As always, your brewing gets a tea to give up its secrets.